Game apparatus



C. R. SIMPKINS GAME APPARATUS Dec. 7, 1937.

Filed May 14, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l r 506% @mU/% caruaampkms Attorney;

Dec. 7, 1937'. c R. SIMPKINS 2,101,201,-

GAME APPARATUS Filed May 14, 1934 w 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor AnmeygPatented Dec. 7, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFEQE GAME APPARATUSApplication May 14, 1934, Serial No. 725,455

3 Claims.

My invention relates to game apparatus and has particular reference to agame employing a board over which a ball or marble is projected.

Games of the type known as the pin and 5 marble games usually comprise agame board supported at an angle to the horizontal over which a ball maybe projected to engage pins or groups of pins on the board, directingthe ball in various paths over the game board, the

ball being receivedin holes or pockets disposed at various positionsover the board, each pocket or hole defining a predetermined value,depending upon the difficulty encountered in placing a ball in theparticular pocket.

Games of this type may be made more amusing and more attractive if theskill of the person playing the game in directing a ball into aparticular pocket, or into selected pockets, may cause a change ofposition of the ball from a pocket of low valuation to a pocket of highvaluation.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide a game board inwhich balls directed into predetermined positions upon the board arecaused to advance from such positions to a position defining a relativehigh value.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game board of thecharacter set forth in which the positioning of a ball in apredetermined posi- SO tion upon the board causes the ball to be bodilylifted from the board over a barrier to pass the ball to a pocket of lowvaluation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game board of thecharacter set forth in which one or more barriers are provided inadvance of pockets of high valuation when the ball is accurately placedin a predetermined position upon the board.

Another object of the invention is to provide 40 a game board in which aball-throwing apparatus is mounted at one or more positions upon theboard which when engaged by the ball will forcibly move the ball toother positions upon the board.

45 Another object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter set forth in the preceding paragraph, in which the entry ofthe ball into or upon such ball-throwing apparatus causes actuation ofthe throwing apparatus.

50 Another object of the invention is to provide a plurality ofball-throwing devices disposed about the board, any one of which, whenengaged by a ball, will cause all of the throwing devices to beactuated.

55 Another object of the invention is to provide means for collectingall of the balls at the end of the game, and providing devices whichwill effectively prevent the replaying of the balls until acoin-controlled apparatus has been actuated by the deposit of the coins.5

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from, a study of thefollowing specifications, read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein Figure l is a plan view of a game board con- 10structed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View, taken along line IIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail, plan View of the lower end of the board shown inFig. 1, the view being 15 shown partly in section to illustrate theoperation of the ball-collecting and elevating apparatus;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, taken along line IVIV of Fig. 3; 20

Fig. 5 is a detail, perspective view of one of the hurdles which may beemployed with my invention;

Fig. 6 is a detail, perspective view of a contact apparatus which may beemployed with my invention; and

Fig. '7 is a detail view of the ball-throwing apparatus which may beemployed with my invention.

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated a game board as comprisinga suitable frame or base I, having a front wall 2, a rear wall 3, andside walls 4 and 5 constituting a substantially rectangular cabinet, thetop of which is formed of a sheet of glass 6 through which a playingboard '5 may be viewed. As will be understood by those skilled in theart, the bottom 8 of the cabinet i may be placed upon a table or othersuitable support, or may be supported .upon any suitable type of standwhich will 40 hold the board at a convenient level for playing purposes.The playing field 1 is disposed at a considerable angle relative to thebottom 8 of the cabinet, the upper end of the board, near the rear wall3, being considerably higher than the remaining portions of the board sothat balls projected onto the playing field or playing board 7 will tendto roll by gravity toward the front wall 2.

The playing board of field I is illustrated as having a curved upperend, indicated at 9, which curve is preferably formed by a suitablycurved plate or board constituting a filler between the upper end of theplaying field and the rear wall 3 of the cabinet. A ball-projectingdevice I 0,

such as is commonly employed in a board of this character, may beprovided upon the right-hand side of the cabinet to receive and projectballs through an alleyway H and through a gate l2 toward the upper endof the playing field where the ball will engage the curved surface S andbe directed around the curved surface to a suitable resilient springbuffer l3 preferably secured at the point at which the curve 9 meets thestraight side Id of the playing field so that the ball will engage thespring buffer and will rebound toward the right-hand side of the playingfield.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the force exerted'bythe projector ll] may be controlled by the operator so that the pathdescribed by the ball on its rebound from the spring buffer may becontrolled to directthe ball into any one of a number of paths downtheface of the playing field.

The playing field is provided with a plurality of holes or pockets i5,such pockets being preferably formed by boring a suitable hole directlythrough the board l, the holes being of such size that a ball mayreadily pass therethrough. The number and location of the holes orpockets i5 is a matter of individual selection in the particular board,though it is to be, understood that a relatively large number of suchholes or pockets will be distributed throughout the board.

The board is also provided with a plurality of upstanding pins 56arranged in any suitably selected. pattern to constitute a resilientstriking member against which the ball will strike in its path down theplaying field, and thus will cause the ball to be directed in variouspaths dependent upon the angle with which the ball strikes the pins andalso dependent upon the direction of movement of the ball relative tothe pin at the time such contact is made.

Each of the balls or pockets is usually given a valuation determined bythe difficulty encountered in placing a ball in the individual pockets.Near the upper end of the playing field and preferably in alignment withthe center of the board I, I provide a series of pockets i'l arranged inalignment with each other and I surround these pockets with a fence Itformed of a plurality of pins similar to or identical with the pins 16to define a path of movement of the ball toward and over the pockets il.At the mouth of the path so formed by the pins i8, I provide anadditional barrier 19, preferably constructed as shown in Fig. 5, as aminiature representation of a insuring that a ball will stop beforepassing over the front 22. r 7

Located within the side walls of the hurdle I9, I provide aball-receiving and throwing apparatus 25, more particularly illustratedin Fig. '7, consisting essentially of a baseplate 25 on which is mounteda throwing-plate 26, preferably having a depression or hole 28 thereinto engage and hold a ball upon the throwing-plate 26. The throwing-plate2B is preferably provided with a downwardly extending tongue 23 whichextends through a suitable slot 3!! in the baseplate 25 and, as will beunderstood froman inspection of Fig. 2, the tongue 29 also extends downthrough a suitableopening 3 in the board 2?, the lower end bottom 8 ofthe cabinet.

lic strip 33, the ends of which are bent upwardly as indicated at 34 topass through a suitable opening 35 in the floor 32 to a positionimmediately in frontof the downwardly extending tongue 29 on theball-throwing plate 26. Movement of the bar 33 toward the rear wall 3 ofthe cabinet will therefore cause the upstanding ends 3 to engage thetongue 29 and tip the ballthrowing plate 25 to the position shown indotted lines on Fig. 2.

The operation of the. ball-throwing plate 26 will cause the ball to beelevated and forcibly thrown over the barrier formed by the front 22 ofthe hurdle 20. The bar 33 is arranged to be moved rapidly toward therear of the cabinet by means of a solenoid 36 which may be secured inany suitable manner, as by a bracket 37, to the The solenoid 36 isprovided with an armature 38 connected by means of a link 39 to abellcrank 49 which extends. through a slot 4! in an extension 42 of thebar 33.50 that whenelectric current is applied to the solenoid 3b thebellcrank will project the bar 33 toward the rear of the cabinet with asubstantially rapid motion. A spring 43 may be provided to engagethe'end of the extension bar 62 to insure the return of the bar 33 tothe position shown in Fig. 2 as soon as the circuit controlling thesolenoid 36 is again opened.

The solenoid 36 may be controlled by any suitable switch mechanism whichwill be closed when the ball arrives in a position upon the ballthrowingmechanism. For this purpose, I have illustrated a switch comprisingelongated relaas indicated at 46 to project through the opening 3i inthe playing board 7 to a position above the level of the board I whereit can be engaged by a ball indicated in dotted lines at 41, when suchball moves into the ball-throwing mechanism.

As indicated in' dotted lines in Fig. 2, a ball striking the upstandingend 46 of the spring contact 44 will depress the spring contact intoengagement witha stationary contact 48 which may likewise be secured tothe underneath side of the playing board I and is preferably formed of ascrew, permitting adjustment thereof to determine the amount of movementof the spring contact M which will be required to complete the circuitfor the solenoid.

While I have illustrated four ball-throwing mechanisms disposed aboutthe board, it will be understood that any number of these ballthrowingmechanisms may be employed, and I prefer that all of the switches formedby the contacts 44 and 48 shall be connected in parallel relation sothat any one of them will cause actuation of the solenoid 36.

It will be understood by'those skilled in the art that each of theball-throwing mechanisms may be provided with its own separate solenoidcon trolled by its own separate switch. I also prefer to make my gameapparatus self-contained, as by employing small dry cells 49 as a sourceof current for operating the solenoid 36, though again it will beunderstood that if desired suitable connections to any electric powersupply may be substituted for the battery 49. 'Any number of hurdles orbarriers 19 may be provided, four being shown upon the board, thosedisposed in the center line of the playing field leading into the fencesl8 disposed about aligned holes ll, while, near the upper end of theboard, I have shown a pair of such hurdles H] as disposed on oppositesides of the board with wire fences I8a leading to single holes I5.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, a slide 50 is mountedimmediately below the playing board 1 and is provided with suitableholes corresponding inpattern with the pattern of the holes l5 in theboard 1. The slide 50 is normally urged toward the front wall 2 of thecabinet by means of suitable springs 52 in which position the holes 5|will be out of alignment with their corresponding holes I5 and I! sothat when a ball is moved into a position above any one of the holes l5or II, it will pass through this hole until it comes to rest upon theslide 50 and will remain in this position until the slide 50 has beenmoved towardthe rear wall 3 of the cabinet to align the holes 5| withthe holes l5 and IT, at which time'the balls will be permitted to passthrough the slide 50 to fall upon the floor 32.

The slide 50 may be moved toward the rear wall of the cabinet by meansof a coin-actuated plunger 53, which I prefer to construct in the formof the well-known coin-collecting units in which the plunger 53 islocked against movement in its frame 54 until a coin has been depositedin the slide or plunger 53.

Thus the game may be played until all of the balls have been projectedover the playing field and have come to rest in the various pockets l5and I! or have collected in a large pocket 55 at the lower end of theplaying field 1 and then to replay the game it is necessary to deposit acoin in the plunger 53 to move the slide 50 to release the balls fromthe playing field and permit them to be replayed.

Due to the angular position of the floor 32, all of the balls which aredropped through the holes l5, l1, and 5|, will move downwardly on thefloor 32 toward the front wall of the cabinet where they will come torest in a ball chute 56 extending transversely of the cabinet. As isindicated in Fig. 4 the ball chute 56 also extends at an angle to thehorizontal tending to pass the balls toward the right-hand wall 4 of thecabinet. Disposed immediately adjacent the right-hand wall of thecabinet, I provide a ball elevator 5! which preferably comprises acrank-like member rigidly secured to a shaft 58 which shaft is mountedin suitable bearings 59 and 60 in a front partition wall 61, and thefront wall 2 of the cabinet. The shaft 58 is provided upon the exteriorof the front wall of the cabinet with a suitable crank or handle 62, bywhich the shaft 58 and the elevator 51 may be partially rotated to liftthe balls from the ball chute 56 to the alleyway H ready to be projectedby the projector In.

It will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 4 that the upper surfaceof the elevator 51 is provided with a cup-like depression 63 into whichthe balls may drop one at a time so that upon rotation of the elevator51 the first ball to enter the depression is picked up, carried over to,and is dropped into, the alleyway I l.

' It will also be observed that normally the elevator 51 is in aposition with its right-hand edge 64 abutting the side of the side wall5 so that the outer lip of the cup-like depression 63 is approximatelylevel with the bottom of the ball chute 55 or may be disposed slightlybelow the bottom of the ball chute. Thus with the balls in the ballchute successive operation of the elevator will lift the balls one at atime and place them ready for ejection by the projector l0.

However, after all the balls have been projected onto the playing fieldand have come to rest in various positions thereon, it is necessary tooperate the slide 50 to drop the ball onto the floor 32 and back intothe ball chute 56. It is further necessary that when the slide has beenso operated that the balls should not be permitted to move into theelevator or be permitted to be elevated until the coin-actuated plunger53 has been withdrawn into locked position, requiring the deposit ofanother coin before the slide can again be operated.

To prevent a person from operating the slide and then replaying theballs without relocking the coin plunger 53, I provide means forslightly elevating the ball elevator 57 and holding the same elevateduntil the plunger 53 has been withdrawn to completely locked position.For this purpose I have provided the shaft 58 with a crank 65 connectedto a suitable link 65 extending across the partition 6 l, the outer endof the link 56 being bafiied as indicated at 6'! to engage a baffle sur-.face 68 upon the inner end of the plunger 53. Thus when the plunger 53is pressed inwardly to engage with a striking bracket 69 on the slide50, to thus press the slide 50 rearwardly, the baffled surface 68 on theplunger 53 will ride upon the baffle surface Bl ofthe link 66 and willcause the elevator 5? to be partially rotated to the position indicatedat "it in Fig. 4. With the elevator in this position, it will beobserved that the outer lip of the depression 853 will be above thelevel of the ball chute 56 and the ball will thus be prevented fromentering the elevator until the plunger 53 is entirely retracted.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details ofconstruction shown herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a ball game, a playing field, means disposing said playing fieldat an angle to the horizontal whereby balls placed thereon will move bygravity over said field, means for projecting balls onto said playingfield, means disposed on said playing field forming barriers in the pathof movement of balls over said field, ball-throwing means disposed onsaid field in advance of said barriersfor receiving balls and forthrowing balls so received over said barrier, means disposed betweensaid barrier and said ball-throwing means e-ngageable by balls movingtoward said barrier for actuating said ball-throwing means.

2. In a ball game, a playing field, means dis-.

posing said playing field at an angle to the horizontal whereby ballsplaced thereon will move bygravity over said field, means for projectingballs onto said playing field, means disposed on said playing fieldforming barriers in the path of movement of balls over said field,ball-throwing means disposed on said field in advance of said barriersfor receiving balls and for throwing balls jecting balls onto saidplaying field, a plurality' of barriers disposed about said playingfield against which balls may strike to hold said balls against furthermovement on said field, ballthrowing means disposed in advance of eachof said barriers, means common to all of said ballthro-wing means foractuating said ball-throwing means to lift a ball from said barrier andto throw the same over said barrier, and means disposed between eaoh ofsaid barriers and the associated ball-throwingmeans to be engaged by aball moving toward said barrier for operating said common moving means.

7 CARL R. SIMPKINS.

